Israel signs prisoner swap deal

Israel has begun exhuming the bodies of Hezbollah fighters to hand over

Israel has formally signed an agreement with Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to exchange prisoners.

An Israeli government spokesman said the deal had been signed "in the presence of a UN representative".

Under the deal, two Israeli soldiers - seized in a 2006 raid and believed to be dead - will be handed over.

The bodies of fighters killed during years of conflict between the two sides will also be handed over by Israel, which has already begun exhuming them.

Legal challenge

The capture of Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev triggered a 34-day war between Israel and the Hezbollah movement in summer 2006.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said he believes the pair are dead. Hezbollah has not confirmed that.

Israelis Eldad Regev (left) and Ehud Goldwasser were captured in 2006

Military officials have indicated that the exchange, agreed by the cabinet a week ago, may take place next week.

Samir Qantar, who has been in jail since 1979 for his part in a deadly guerrilla raid, will be among the five Lebanese prisoners handed over by Israel.

The release of Qantar is particularly controversial in Israel, BBC correspondents say, because of his role in the deaths of three Israelis, among them a policeman and a young girl.

The family of the policeman appealed to Israel's Supreme Court on Monday to block the exchange, the Associated Press news agency reports, but the attempt is not expected to succeed.

Earlier, the Israeli military confirmed that it had begun exhuming the remains of guerrillas from a special cemetery in the north of the country, not far from the Israel-Lebanon border.

Missing airman

Hezbollah's leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, said last week that the group would also provide information on missing Israeli airman Ron Arad.

Samir Qantar is among the prisoners to be released under the deal

Mr Arad has been missing since he bailed out of his plane over Lebanon in 1986 and was captured by Shia militiamen.

His fate is unknown and has been the subject of much speculation in Israel over the past two decades.

But a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Mark Regev, said on Monday that Israel had not yet received the promised report on Mr Arad's fate.

"We are waiting for it," he said. "When we receive it, the government will discuss further moves."

Another Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, remains a prisoner of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.